The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested former Rajasthan Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Mahesh Joshi in connection with an alleged Rs 960 crore scam related to the central government’s flagship Jal Jeevan Mission, which aims to provide tap water to every household.
Joshi, a former cabinet minister in Ashok Gehlot’s previous government, was arrested just days after the arrest of Dr. Subodh Agarwal, former Additional Chief Secretary of PHED. ACB officials detained Joshi from his residence in Jaipur early Thursday.
According to ACB officials, Mahesh Joshi is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for issuing tenders during his tenure as PHED minister in the Congress government led by former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The ACB filed an FIR against Joshi in 2024 in connection with this alleged scam.
Parallel to the ACB investigation, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing the case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Joshi was arrested by the ED in 2025, after which he remained in jail for nearly seven months before being granted bail by the Supreme Court.
Earlier this year, on February 17th, the ACB raided approximately 15 locations across Rajasthan and arrested 10 engineers in connection with the case. Subsequently, the agency also arrested Dr. Subodh Agarwal, who had reportedly been evading investigators for quite some time.
Currently, the three main accused in this case are absconding and have been declared proclaimed offenders. The ACB has compiled details of their assets and submitted them to the court. The process of confiscating their properties is expected to begin soon.
The case began on June 20, 2023, when senior BJP leader Kirori Lal Meena staged a two-day protest outside the Ashok Nagar police station in Jaipur, demanding the registration of an FIR in the case.
Investigators allege that two companies—M/s Shri Ganpati Tubewell and M/s Shri Shyam Tubewell—obtained government tenders under the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme by submitting forged documents. The owners of these companies, Mahesh Mittal and Padmachand Jain, are accused of obtaining contracts worth approximately ₹960 crore using fake certificates issued in the name of IRCON International.
This alleged scam sparked a major political controversy in Rajasthan and remained a major political debate during the 2023 assembly elections, with opposition parties repeatedly targeting the then Gehlot government over allegations of corruption related to the Jal Jeevan Mission.